Burchett accused of nepotism in hiring of stepson

A complaint to the state comptroller and anonymous emails to county commissioners accuse Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett of violating nepotism laws in the hiring of his stepson, a county laborer with a history of legal troubles, reports the News Sentinel. Burchett is currently running for the Republican nomination to the 2nd Congressional District seat.

Tyler Steven McCree, the son of Burchett’s wife, was living in the mayor’s home and listed Burchett as his No. 1 reference when he applied for the job on March 21, 2015.

He was hired five months later, despite a county policy that prohibits an “elected or appointed official to advocate, supervise, manage or cause the employment” of a relative within county government. Step-child is listed among the relations covered by the policy.

In an interview, Burchett said McCree got the job without his involvement. The comptroller’s complaint, obtained by the USA TODAY NETWORK-Tennessee from the complainant on condition the person not be identified, alleges: “No other candidate would have been considered for even a split second having the same record as McCree.” Complaints to the comptroller are not public record.

The complaint and the emails include copies of the initial pages of incident reports from the Blount and Loudon county sheriff’s offices accusing McCree of rape, contributing to the delinquency of minors and possession of drug paraphernalia. The emails were sent last week to Knox and Blount county commissioners from knoxleaksvol3@gmail.com and knoxleaks18@yahoo.com.

… The issue also was raised by businessman Brad Mayes during a recent Republican gathering in Powell, during which Burchett, who is running for Congress, defended McCree, saying he had “turned his life around, and, in my book, a kid like that needs a medal on his chest.”

4 Responses to Burchett accused of nepotism in hiring of stepson

People, here is a GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO put new FACE on the HILL BUT, make sure he or she are not a clone of Tim Burchett. People could you expect any LESS? You mean Burchett didn’t use a Veterans Preference Passover Letter? DISGRACEFUL AT ITS BEST! Thanks Tim Burchett.

I would be interested to know just who you might recommend? Tim’s tenure as Knox County Mayor has been marred only by scurrilous, personal attacks and irrelevant references to domestic issues that have been publicly aired and justly rectified. So, despite the possible resurgence of the Democratic Party in other realms, ‘it can’t happen here’ in the state that a Democrat native son lost his bid for the White House. Smear tactics are not the recipe for success in this particular Republican stronghold. Excuse my naivete, but this smear campaign has to be the work of a rival for the Republican nomination.

Another hit job by Matlock’s supporters because their preferred candidate can’t win on the issues. Loudon County government doesn’t even have a nepotism policy. Conflict of interest in hiring and serving in office there is the rule not the exception. People who know and respect Tim Burchett are sticking with him because he will represent us best in DC.

Please read the facts. 1) McCree has been “accused” but not convicted. There were incident reports. Anyone can accuse anyone but innocent until proved guilty. 2) Don’t put too much credibility in anonymous emails. What kind of person would hide behind emails without identification?? 3) Isn’t it interesting that McCree was a thing of the past and, as Tim said, has turned himself around UNTIL Tim is running for US representative. That smells far too strongly like a political maneuver and I hope responsible citizens realize that.